Buckle for supporters



(No Model.)

L. W. TIMMONS.

BUCKLE FOR SUPPORTERS.

No. 339,031. Patented Mar. 30. 1886.

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LOTTIE XV. TIMMONS, OF SYRACUSE, NEYV YORK.

BUCKLE FOR SUPPORTERS.

SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent Nb. 339,031, dated Idaroh30,1886.

Application filed December 7, 1885. Serial No. 184,917. (No model.)

To all whont it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOTTIE W. TIMMONS, of Syracuse, county of Onondaga, in the State of'New York, a citizen of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Buckles for Supporters, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure 1 is a front elevation; Fig. 2, a rear elevation; Fig. 3, a perspective of the parts detached; Fig. 4-, a front view with the shield raised; Fig. 5, a side view of Fig. 4; Fig. 6, a side elevation of the buckle; Fig. 7, a modification showing parts detached; Fig. 8, an other modification with parts detached.

The object of my invention is to produce an improved buckle simple in construction, easy of operation, and effective in use, which is designed to be used as an attachment to skirt and hose supporters and to suspenders as a supporter for underclothing.

It relates to that class of buckles in which that part operating as the tongue is provided with a sharp or piercing point to penetrate without havinga hole first made for it.

It is constructed as follows: A is the body of the buckle consisting, essentially, of springy wire. This is bentas follows: Itakeastraight piece of wire, and holding it near the middle, bend the ends inward at a toward each other, then outwardly on a reverse curve, forming the concavities b, theninwardly again at 0. So far these bends are all in the same horizontal plane. I then bend the ends over toward the rest of the body in a plane perpendicular, or nearly so, to that of the other parts, so as to form the hooks d, and then sharpen the points, or I can sharpen the points before bending.

B is the cross-bar of the buckle, consisting of a piece of wire bent centrally at e, and the ends of which are clinched or otherwise secured to the sides of the body A. In Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4t, and 5 it is shown as clinched around the side bars in the ooncavities b, and in Fig. 7 as simply soldered to the side bars. This bar is so disposed that the bend 6 will lie in the same plane or parallel to the plane of the body A, except the hooks.

C is the shield or protector, which consists of a piece of sheet metal of substantially the outline of a shield slightly concaved adjacent to its curved position. This shieldis cut from its straight side inward by two straight or curved cuts, f, thereby creating at this end three partsviz., two side pieces, 1 1, and an intermediate part or spring, 2. This shield is fitted upon the cross-bar B by bending the side pieces, 1 1, around it, one on each side of the bend e, the central part or spring, 2, being sprung downward so that it will lie below the bend e, as shown in Fig. 1, while the shield or the rounded concave part thereof will lie upon the top of the hooks d, as shown, and over the points partially when the buckle is closed.

When I raise the shield, uncovering the points, the spring 2, bearing against the bend c, is forced more and more backward, out of line, until, so to speak, the center is reached, when, as shown in Fig. 5, the shield will stand perpendicularly. \Vhen the shield is raised over beyond this point, it will incline backward more and more from a vertical position until at last the bend 6 will cease to wedge against the spring 2. XVhen thus opened, I insert the hooks through the garment, and pressing the shield back it snaps down by its spring action into the position shown in Fig. I.

The top of the body A forms a loop to receive the strap or webbing to which the buckle is connected.

In Figs. 7 and S I show modifications of the construction of the body. In Fig. 7 the sides are only bent once, at the top, and the cross-bar is soldered in place. In Fig. 8 the sides are bent inwardly at b until they nearly meet, and thence outwardly and down to the hooks, as shown. In this construction the wires forn1- ing the bends 1) form the cross-bar, the sides 1 1 of the shield are bent around one of the bars forming the bend, and the spring 2passes under these bends, and from their width these bends operate to wedge the spring 2 when the shield is raised.

I do not broadly claim a buckle in which the loop and tongues are formed in one piece and a hinged plate mounted thereon, for one form of such construction is shown in the patent of Minor and Granniss, May 16, 1876, N o. 17 7 ,538.

What I'claim as myinvention, and desire to In witness whereof I have hereunto set my secure by Letters Patent, is hand this 4th day of March, 1885.

A buckle consisting of a body having 3100p at one end, sharpened hooks at the other, and LOTTIE W. TIMMONS. 5 an intermediate centrally-curved cross-bar and V a spring-shield mounted thereon, constructed In presence ofand operating together substantially as de- (3. W. SMITH,

scribed. A. H. MATsoN. 

